Tooth rigidity imparting device and method of implantation thereof

ABSTRACT

A tooth rigidity imparting device and method of implanting into a pair of adjacent teeth of which at least one tooth has lost its resistance to mobility in the jaw, including contiguous cavities being drilled in each of the teeth, the device being a rigid elongate beam member having the ends thereof located in the cavities and extending between the teeth, and with the ends encompassed by a self-hardening dental filling material in the cavities so as to form a rigidly interconnected tooth structure.

,nited States Patent 1 Garfinkel [111 3,822,472 [45] July 9,1974

TOOTH RIGIDITY IMPARTING DEVICE AND METHOD OF ATION HEREO Inventor:Leonard Garfinkel, 11 Buffalo Ave.,

lslip, NY. 11751 .122 Filed: Jan.31, 1973 21 Appl. No.1 328,354

52 us. or. 32/2 511 1111.01. ..A6lc 13/00 58 Field oiSearch 32/2, 5, 6,7

[56] I References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,213,964 9 1940 Myerson.1 32/6 2,227,735 1/1941 Morton 32/6 Primary Examiner- Robert PeshockAttorney, Agent, or Firm-Eric H. Waters [57] ABSTRACT A tooth rigidityimparting device and method of implanting into a pair of adjacent teethof which at least one tooth has lost its resistance to mobility in thejaw, including contiguous cavities being drilled in each of the teeth,the device being a rigid elongate beam member having the ends thereoflocated in the cavities and extending between the teeth, and with theends encompassed by a self-hardening dental filling material in thecavities so as to form a rigidly interconnected tooth structure.

4 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures .1 TOOTH RIGIDITY IMPARTING DEVICE AND THQWQELMANJATIQE. IHEREQE FIELD or THE INVENTION The present inventionrelates to a dental bridge and, more particularly, to a deviceforimparting rigidity to a pair of adjacent teethand its method ofimplantation into the teeth. I

It frequently becomes necessary to utilize an auxiliary means or devicefor imparting rigidity to a pair of adjacent loose teeth, or'to at leastone tooth which has lost its resistance to mobility within the jaw. Therigidity imparting device must be generally constructed of a dentalbridge which connects at least two teeth,-or bridges at least two teeth,of which one is looser than the other in the jaw. However, if both teethare equally weak and loose within the jaw then, by interconnecting thetwo teeth in a suitably rigid manner, some enhanced degree of rigidityand stability within the jaw is imparted thereto.

DlSCUSSlON OF THE PRIOR ART Heretofore, various bridging or connectingdevices for supporting and imparting rigidity to adjacent teeth haveemployed relatively complexconnectors or interlocking arrangements whichrequire extensive drilling 2 with the end portions of the rod beingpositioned within respectively each of the cavities and imbedded in thetooth-fillingmateriaL However, in order to increase the rigidityimparting effect between the two teeth, other advantageous forms may beutilized for the elongate rod or rigidity imparting" device. Forexample, the rod may have an essentially rectangular cross-sectionalconfiguration having a higher resistance to bending, or a rod memberhaving enlarged end portions adapted to be embedded in-the tooth-fillingmaterial within each of the tooth cavities so as to provide largergripping surfaces therebetween. Furthermore, the rigidity impartingdevice may be in the form of a plate member having numerous grippingedges, a plate having enlarged dimensioned end portions, or may beconstituted of a suitable I-beam with: relatively wide upper and lowerflanges. Additionally, in order to enhance theextent of of the teeth andaccurate dimensioning and positioning of the locking devices.Furthermore, the prior art tooth interconnecting and rigidity impartingdevices, which are also frequently employed in supporting artificialteeth or similar dental prosthesis, required the cutting through of amajor portion of the tooth structure in order to facilitatethe'insertion of the device, thereby often causing irreparable damage tothe tooth, while subjecting the patient to extreme discomfort and pain.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION to provide for a novel rigidity impartingdevice for connecting a pair of adjacent teeth of which at least onetooth has lost its resistance to mobility in the jaw.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a novel method ifimplanting a device for imparting rigidity to a pair of adjacent teeth,of which at least one tooth has lost its resistance to mobility in thejaw.

Pertaining to the foregoing, the present invention contemplatesinitially drilling a distal cavity in one of the teeth adjacent to thesecond tooth which is adapted to be interconnected to the first tooth,and a mesial cavity in the other tooth in axial alignment with the firstcavity. The rigidity imparting device is then positioned within thecavities in the respective teeth, so as to form a connecting linkextending between the two teeth, and with the cavities are filled withcommonly used selfhardening tooth-filling material. As the tooth-fillingmaterial hardens in each of the cavities, it permanently and rigidlygrips the respective portions of the rigidity imparting device immersedtherein, thereby firmly'fascording to the invention, is shaped as a rodforming a bar or'bcam adapted to interconnect the two teeth,

gripping between the rigidity imparting device and the tooth fillingmaterial contained in each of the cavities,

the rigidity imparting device may be provided with one or morethrough-apertures, through which the filling material is adapted to flowprior to hardening thereof in the tooth cavities.

Although the rigidity-imparting device is generally utilized, for thefastening together of a pair of adjacent teeth, the rod or bar memberforming the device may bridge more than two teeth so as to, at times,interconnect a larger number of teeth, for example, three teeth in whicha firm or healthy center tooth in the jaw may provide an anchor for apair of loose teeth which are positioned one on each side thereof. This,in effect will require a cavity or slot to be drilled across the fullwidth of the center tooth, and adjacent cavities in each of the two sideteeth so as to allow for passagethrough and positioning of a single barmember or rod in all of the cavities, the latter of which may then befilled with a suitable tooth-filling material, as previously described.

In accordance with the inventive method, the adjacent located pair ofteeth initially have cavities of the distal and mesial type drilledtherein in proximity to h is, accordingly Object of the presentinventioh I I each other so as to allow for the positioning within thecavities of a bar or rod member which extends between the teeth, therebyconstituting a rigidity imparting device. Subsequently, the cavities,which contain the rigidity imparting device, are filled with a suitable,com monly used tooth-filling material which then hardens within thecavities while encompassing the ends of the bar member so as tointerlock the pair of teeth in rigid engagement.

Since there is no chemical bonding between the rigid ity imparting barorrod member and the dental filling material, the cavities aredimensioned so as to be in close conformance with the shape of the barmember. Furthermore, the cavities are under cut or protrusions formedtherein so as to enhance in the formation of a mechanical supportrigidity fastened within the teeth.

together bythe formation of cavities in the lingual or buccal surfacesthereof.

When interconnecting or splinting together more than two teeth, such asthree or more, the cavity cut into the center tooth or intermediateteeth extends through the full length of the tooth surface and into themesial and distal regions of the respective end teeth.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Reference is now had to the followingdetailed description of exemplary embodiments of the invention, taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective elevational view of a tooth having a rigidityimparting device according to the present invention positioned therein;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view, partly in section, showing a pair of adjacentteeth which are interconnected by a rigidity imparting device accordingto the present invention;

FIG. 3 is an elevational front view, partly in section and on anenlarged scale, of a pair of adjacent teeth which are interconnected byanother rigidity imparting device according to the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view along line 4-4 in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a rod member forming a rigidityimparting device according to the present invention;

FIG. 6 is another embodiment of a rigidity imparting device;

FIG. 7 is a further embodiment of a rigidity imparting device;

FIG. 8 is still another embodiment of a rigidity imparting device; and

FIG. 9 is yet another embodiment of a rigidity imparting device inaccordance with the present inventron.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Referring now in detail to the drawings, andparticularly FIGS. 1 and 2, a pair ofteeth 10 are each provided withsuitable mesial and distal cavities 12 which are drilled into the sidesof the teeth facing each other. At least one of the teeth, and possiblyboth, may be loose relative to the other tooth, or in effect, may havelost its resistance to mobility within the jaw.

An elongate bar member 14, shown in this instance formed as arectangularly cross-sectioned plate extends between the two teeth 10 andis positioned so as to have the ends thereof located within therespective cavities 12 in each of the teeth, as shown in moreparticularity in FIG. 2 of the drawings. The bar member 14 is formed ofa corrosion-resistant material, preferably of an inert or noble metalsuch as, gold, silver, titanium, platinum, stainless steel or any othermetallic or rigid inert material suited for dental usage. In order toprovide for or enhance mechanical bonding between the dental fillingmaterial and the bar member 14, the latter preferably has roughened orirregular surfaces or peripheral edges. The cavities 12 containing thebar member 14 are filled with a self-hardening tooth-filling material16, in a manner as usual with respect to filling of tooth or dentalcavities, whereby the filling material prior to its hardening completelyencompasses the ends of the bar member 14 which project into thecavities l2, and with the material then being permitted to harden aboutthe bar member so as to form a rigid interconnecting bridge between thetwo adjacent teeth 10. Although many commonly used dental fillingmaterials may be used, preferred materials employed in conjunction withthe inventive rigidity imparting device are amalgam composite or filledresins.

The outer surface of the tooth-filling material 16 may then be shaped orground so as to conform to the natural contours of the respective teeth.

In the embodiment of FIGS. 3 and 4 of the drawing, the teeth 10, eachhaving respectively a cavity 12 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, areinterconnected bya bar member 18. The bar member 18 essentially isformed of an elongate I-beam having relatively wide upper and lowerflanges 20 interconnected by a vertical web 22. The utilization of thehorizontal flanges 20 will provide space therebetween which, when thecavity 12 is filled with the tooth-filling material 16 enhances thegripping effect between the latter, the teeth and the bar member 18 uponhardening of the tooth-filling material. Consequently, this will imparta greater degree of rigidity and support between the two adjacent teeth10. In order to still further increase the degree of gripping betweenthe tooth-filling material 16 and bar 18, the vertical web 22 may beprovided with a plurality of through-apertures 24 into which the toothfilling material is adapted to flow prior to hardening, so as to provideadditional gripping surfaces and zones between the rigidity impartingdevice and the tooth-filling material after positioning of the devicewithin cavities 12.

Various embodiments of tooth rigidity imparting devices may be employedin connection with the present invention. Thus, for example, havingreference to FIG. 5 of the drawing, in its basic configuration thedevice may simply comprise an elongate rod 26 having enlarged nail-headends 27 of essentially circular crosssection. This type of device, whichis relatively inexpensive to manufacture, will in all likelihood besuitable and sufficient for most ordinary requirements in which onetooth is adapted to impart rigidity to an adjacent loose tooth.

However, in order to obtain somewhat more stringent or greater degreesof support between at least two adjacent teeth, more complex forms ofrigidity imparting devices may preferably be utilized.

Thus, in FIG. 6, the device takes the form of an elongate bar member 28of essentially rectangular crossscctional configuration. The bar member28 corresponds substantially to that of bar member 14 as shown in FIG. 1and 2 of the drawings. However, in this instance, the bar member 28 isprovided with a plurality of through-apertures 30 which permit the flowtherethrough of the tooth-filling material 16 when the bar member 28 ispositioned in the respective cavities 12 in each of the teeth 10, so asto increase the gripping extent between the tooth-filling material andthe bar member, thereby affording a somewhat greater degree of rigidityto the attached adjacently located teeth. Although the bar member 28 isshown whereby the axes of the through-apertures 30 are horizontal andextend through the side of the bar member, it becomes readily obviousthat the bar may be positioned within the tooth cavities in a flatmanner, in effect, rotated through an angle of so as to have theapertures 30 extend vertically.

FIG. 7 illustrates another embodiment of a rigidity imparting deviceformed of a generally flat plate 32 having a narrow central portion 34which extends into opposite widening end portions 36. As shown the endportions 36 each are of substantially triangular configuration, however,these shapes are only illustrative, and circular, rectangular orpolygonally-sided end configurations may also be employed in lieu of thetriangular shapes. At least the end portions 36 may be each providedwith a through-aperture 28 to enhance gripping between the bar member 32and any tooth-filling material 16 when the bar member 32 is positionedwithin the caviti'es'l2 in the respective teeth 10.

In the embodiment of FIG. 8 of the drawings, the tooth rigidityimparting device has the shape of an elongate flat plate 40 having aplurality of extending grip ping edges or surfaces 42 at the sidesthereof along the longitudinal direction of the bar member or plate 40.The gripping edges or projections 42 will enhance engagement between therigidity imparting device and the tooth-filling material 16 into whichthe former is embedded. If required, so as to still further increase thegripping engagement between the tooth-filling material and the barmember or plate 40, the latter may be provided with a plurality ofthrough-aperatures similar to that formed in the bar members 28 or 32,in, respectively, FIGS. 6 and 7. v

The tooth rigidity device illustrated inFlG. 9 of the drawings isprimarily a modificationof the bar 26 of F IG. 5, in that it providesfor a circular bar 44 having enlarged spherical members 46' fastenedthereto at each of its ends and with the spherical members 46 affordingan enhanced gripping engagement between the rigidity imparting deviceand the tooth-filling material 16 into whichv it is embedded whenpositioned in the cavities of the teeth. 1

Numerous other shapes and configurations readily suggest themselves forthe rigidity imparting device according to the invention, and it is tobe noted that the embodiments shown are not limited in any particularphysical sense.

While there has been shown what is considered to be the preferredembodiment of the invention, it will be obvious that modifications maybe made which come to said teeth.

crown of the'teeth, and with said cavities being adapted to be filledwith a hardenable dental-tooth-filling material, said device comprising:an elongate bar member forming substantially an l-beam in transversecrosssection extending between said natural teeth, a plurality oflongitudinally spaced apertures extending through the web portion ofsaid I-beam and being of a dimension substantially corresponding to thewidth of said web portion, a first end portion of said bar member beingpositioned in the cavity of one said tooth, a second opposite endportion of said bar member being positioned in the cavity of the othertooth, said end portions being firmly embedded in the tooth-fillingmaterial in each of said cavities forming a mechanical bond between saidbar member, filling material and teeth without interfering with the pulpof the teeth so as to maintain said teeth in rigidly interconnectedrelationship, said barmember being'positioned in said tooth cavitieswith the flange portions of said I-beam being in an upright positionrelative to the apical coronal direction, and said apertures being in avertical relationship 2. A methodof implanting a tooth rigidityimparting device formed of a rigid l-beam shaped elongate bar memberinto at least a'pair of adjacent natural teeth,

within the scope of the disclosure of the specificatiom comprising,drilling at least mesial and distal cavities in contiguous surfaces ofsaid teeth; positioning the ends of said bar member in said cavities soas to havesaid bar member extend between said teeth; and filling saidcavities with a self-hardening dental filling material so as toencompass said bar member ends and from a rigidly interconnected toothstructure upon hardening of said filling material.

3. A method as claimed in claim 2, comprising forming at least oneaperture in said bar member, said dental filling material being adaptedto extend through and fill said aperture so as to enhance the mechanicalconnection between said bar member and said tooth structure uponhardening of said filling material.

4. A method as claimed in claim 3, comprising forming a plurality ofsaid apertures in said bar member prior to positioning thereof in saidcavities so as to be adapted to receive said dental filling materialtherein.

1. A titanium rigidity imparting device for splinting at least a pair ofadjacent natural teeth having cavities facing each other with at leastone cavity being mesial and the other distal, said cavities being solelywithin the crown of the teeth, and with said cavities being adapted tobe filled with a hardenable dental tooth-filling material, said devicecomprising: an elongate bar member forming substantially an I-beam intransverse crosssection extending between said natural teeth, aplurality of longitudinally spaced apertures extending through the webportion of said I-beam and being of a dimension substantiallycorresponding to the width of said web portion, a first end portion ofsaid bar member being positioned in the cavity of one said tooth, asecond opposite end portion of said bar member being positioned in thecavity of the other tooth, said end portions being firmly embedded inthe tooth-filling material in each of said cavities forming a mechanicalbond between said bar member, filling material and teeth withoutinterfering with the pulp of the teeth so as to maintain said teeth inrigidly interconnected relationship, said bar member being positioned insaid tooth cavities with the flange portions of said I-beam being in anupright position relative to the apical coronal direction, and saidapertures being in a vertical relationship to said teeth.
 2. A method ofimplanting a tooth rigidity imparting device formed of a rigid I-beamshaped elongate bar member into at least a pair of adjacent naturalteeth, comprising, drilling at least mesial and distal cavities incontiguous surfaces of said teeth; positioning the ends of said barmember in said cavities so as to have said bar member extend betweensaid teeth; and filling said cavities with a self-hardening dentalfilling material so as to encompass said bar member ends and from arigidly interconnected tooth structure upon hardening of said fillingmaterial.
 3. A method as claimed in claim 2, comprising forming at leastone aperture in said bar member, said dental filling material beingadapted to extend through and fill said aperture so as to enhance themechanical connection between said bar member and said tooth structureupon hardening of said filling material.
 4. A method as claimed in claim3, comprising forming a plurality of said apertures in said bar memberprior to positioning thereof in said cavities so as to be adapted toreceive said dental filling material therein.